10
Best Budget Destinations for 2013

Budget
TravelNovember 27, 2012

We did the homework, now all you have to do is pack your
bags. Here, next year's affordable hotspots—where world-class hotels,
restaurants, and shops will (almost) make you forget you're traveling on
a budget.

Year after year, friends and family of the Budget Travel staff
inevitably ask us the same question: "Where's the coolest and most
affordable place to go next?" Luckily, we work hard to get at the right
answers for them. Each year before the holidays, the BT team
combs through piles of data regarding new flight destinations, airline
prices, places aggressively building new hotels, cities experiencing
cultural booms, currency charts, and other statistics to compile our
list of the 10 best Budget Destinations for the upcoming year. Some
destinations were more interesting to us because they were so full of
new and unique attractions (Northern Ireland!), and others were standby
dream vacation spots that were suddenly more affordable than they've
been in recent years (the Loire Valley, France). But the one thing they
have in common is that they're completely accessible and ripe for
exploring now. So read up, pick a place, and get planning!

NASHVILLE, TN

Why in 2013: In the new hit ABC drama Nashville,
a political powerbroker describes his hometown as "a thriving,
prosperous city, an industrial and cultural juggernaut." In other words,
the home of the Grand Ole Opry is going a little heavy on the "grand,"
while easing up considerably on the "ole." You might say life imitates
art. This spring, a brand-new, $585 million, 118,000-square-foot
convention center will open downtown, which will in turn help fuel the
city's ongoing hotel construction boom. To meet the needs, over 1,000
rooms are currently under construction, with five new hotels potentially
slated for the SoBro (South of Lower Broadway) neighborhood alone—a
move that is expected to drive average daily rates down in the city. But
growth in Nashville isn't solely related to real estate. In a city
known primarily for its "hot chicken" and "meat and three sides," chefs
are helping to transform Nashville into a new culinary powerhouse, along
the lines of Charleston, with all the requisite James Beard nominations
and placements on top American restaurant lists. On the other end of
the spectrum, buzzy food trucks are hitting the streets of hip
neighborhoods like East Nashville and The Gulch, the first
LEED-certified green neighborhood in the South.

When to Go: Gourmet restaurants and architecture
aside, Nashville is still the capital of the country music world. From
June 6 through 9, the city will play host to the CMA Music Festival,
which attracts a who's who of country stars, including Carrie Underwood,
Brad Paisley, Rascal Flatts, and Miranda Lambert (cmaworld.com/cma-music-festival, four-day passes from $125).

Where to Stay: Don't be fooled by its location near
the airport: Hotel Preston is much cooler and more refined than an
airport hotel has any right to be. Think complimentary pet goldfish,
lava lamps on request, and a "spiritual menu"—in lieu of Bibles in the
nightstand, you can request any number of holy texts, including the
Koran, the Torah, the Book of Mormon, or the Bhagavad Gita (733 Briley Parkway, Nashville, hotelpreston.com, doubles from $93).